The Tales of Hoffmann( 1951)

TV-MAMusicFantasyRomance

71%

User
Score

You Will Never See Anything Finer On The Screen!

Overview

A young poet named Hoffman broods over his failed romances. First, his affair with the beautiful Olympia is shattered when he realizes that she is really a mechanical woman designed by a scientist. Next, he believes that a striking prostitute loves him, only to find out she was hired to fake her affections by the dastardly Dapertutto. Lastly, a magic spell claims the life of his final lover.

Top Billed Cast

Moira Shearer
Stella / Olympia
Ludmilla Tchérina
Giulietta
Pamela Brown
Niklaus
Léonide Massine
Spalanzani / Schlemil / Franz
Ann Ayars
Antonia
Robert Helpmann
Lindorf / Coppelius / Dapertutto / Dr. Miracle
Frederick Ashton
Kleinsach / Cochenille
Robert Rounseville
Hoffmann
Mogens Wieth
Crespel
Lionel Harris
Pitichinaccio
Philip Leaver
Andrés
Meinhart Maur
Luther
Edmond Audran
Partner to Stella in Dragonfly Ballet
Sir Thomas Beecham
Self - Conductor (uncredited)
Alan Carter
Casher (Act 1) (uncredited)
Elizabeth Christie
Corps de Ballet (uncredited)
John Ford
Nathanaël (uncredited)
Richard Golding
Hermann - Prologue and Epilogue (uncredited)
Lillemor Knudsen
Dancer (uncredited)
Barry Lowe
Student (uncredited)
Arthur Skinner
Man in Background (uncredited)

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Wed Dec 28 2022

Though I really enjoyed watching this, it isn't really a film at all. Messrs. Powell and Pressburger have elicited the help of the supremely talented Christopher Challis and of the late Jacques Offenbach and basically filmed an augmented theatrical production of his eponymous, uncompleted, opera. They have assembled a curiously effective collection of gloriously clad acting talent - most of whom, aside from the narrator/composer himself in the form of Robert Rounseville, cannot actually sing - and proceeded to present us with something that is really quite beautiful to watch and listen to; but ...